Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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The Firkin for January 2022

As of today, signs are pointing (encouragingly) to a cresting of the Omicron wave. Granted we have been in this false ending scenario a few times but maybe this virus has finally found its sweet spot of communicable but not deadly that will lead to an end to this strange time.

I have been proven wrong about Covid more times than I can count especially with my beer predictions. I thought it would lead to a rash of closures. I thought the amount of sick and dead would put a screeching halt to buying better and more expensive beer. I did not see the can becoming, for all intents and purposes the only container option.

So, don’t come to this blog for predictions. Though I do have a few.

– festivals will start being a thing again. I think there will be a burst of activity and then festivals will slow to a slower pace than in the 2010 to 2015 range when every summer weekend practically had one scheduled…

….there will be a new hype style of IPA. But I don’t think it will last very long. I think we are in a Brut IPA type of year…

…closures will ramp up and smaller actual nano breweries might become the route of choice for opening a brewery. There are too many places that are stuck in the middle ground with too much debt or not enough growth. The solution will be to keep it small and affordable.

That is it and let’s not speak of them when proven wrong.

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Threadless

It appears that Five Threads Brewing is calling it after six years in Westlake Village.

I had seen them start to gain some traction with their high ABV – 5X line of beers. Even seen them on the FOMO shelves at Arroyo Shell in Pasadena, which is a sign of popularity but I guess that was not enough after all the hardships of the last few years. Maybe the space or the equipment can find a new lease on life.

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Mashing Interns

Let’s start with the news that came out earlier this month….

(my addendum is in bold after the slightly abridged press release)

“The Oregon Brewers Guild announces the launch of their new Mashing Barriers Internship Program. The Guild’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee set the work in motion in early 2021, focusing on creating employment access into the Oregon brewing industry for underserved individuals. 

“The brewing industry has been historically dominated by white cis men”, said Christina LaRue, Executive Director of the Oregon Brewers Guild. “Our goal with this program is to partner with our member breweries and help open the door for those that have come up against barriers – women, people of color, LGTBQ+…really anyone who has struggled to gain access. It has been a labor of love over the last year and we are very excited to see it finally come to fruition.”

The program will partner one intern per quarter with a Guild member brewery, and kick off this April with Von Ebert Brewing in Portland, Oregon. The paid internship will run for twelve weeks and will follow a thorough program syllabus, created to offer the intern training and education across multiple facets within the brewery. 

“The program was created as a next step for the Guild’s DEI work”, shared Sonia Marie Leikam, owner of Leikam Brewing in Portland and DEI Committee Chair. “We see this as an opportunity to provide education and mentorship to individuals who historically have not been a part of the industry and who have  experienced challenges in accessing employment due to lack of hands-on experience.  It is our hope that this program will grow and we can strengthen the industry from the inside.”

“We worked very hard this past year to create a paid internship that will help people who don’t necessarily see themselves reflected in the craft beer community. From grain to glass, this program delves into every aspect of the brewing process and beyond, which makes it a phenomenal opportunity for someone looking to get involved”, shared Madeleine McCarthy, Brewer for Von Ebert Brewing and DEI Committee member. “This is just the first step in making the craft beer scene more accessible to all who are intrigued; I’m so thrilled to be a part of the Mashing Barriers Internship program.”

As this is a paid internship, the Oregon Brewers Guild will be assisting with the program costs. The Guild launched their first Pint Day event in December 2021 as a fundraiser for the program and will also be running a fundraising campaign over the next two months.”

This is important. It is not enough anymore to say that you hire blindly and without prejudice. You also have to support programs that fill in gaps that prevent people from being able tp get the job. It is also in a brewery’s self-interest because you get to train a person in your way of brewing and create a real bond that could lead to adding a new full-timer to your team and if you scroll through Facebook for more than two minutes, you will see finding workers ain’t easy out there.

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Native Land

Don’t know how I missed it but in addition to the Black is Beautiful and Brave Noise beers, there is also the Native Land project .  It too is a national collaboration.  The beers done for this project aims to acknowledge the contributions and history of Native American People in the United States. It is the brainchild of New Mexico brewery, Bow & Arrow who announced the project on Indigenous Peoples Day back in October.  “Each brewery who chooses to participate is asked to acknowledge whose ancestral land they are located on and recognize the tribe on the label, while committing to donate proceeds from the beer sales to Native organizations whose work focuses on ecological stewardship and strengthening Native communities.”

Bow and Arrow founders Shyla Sheppard who is part of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation, and her wife Missy Begay of the Navajo (Diné) Nation started the project and I hope like the others, the beers get people talking.

Below is the Ruse Brewing version…

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Dead Seltzer Database

Two seemingly unrelated items that I hope to tie up with a bow.

I recently read an Eater Portland piece chronicling notable restaurants that closed in 2021. Then I read that….

SABInBev has pulled the plug on the Cacti brand of hard seltzer. Not super surprising or important in the grand beverage scheme but it did get me to thinking if someone out there on the interwebs is tracking the comings and goings of hard seltzers in the way that the Eater folks did.

Now, I am not so plugged into this world, didn’t even know there was a brand called Cacti, but maybe someone else can point me towards a list. I think it would inform us all if seltzer is a passed fad or just in a mature market.

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Lórien

From the folks that brought us the Strata hop comes the newly named Lórien.

Indie Hops describes this Tolkien sounding hop as follows “aromas and flavors of citrus zest, fresh melon, sweet hay and wildflowers, all capped by a cinnamon spice.”  In the Saaz and Sterling realm.  Clean with “a complimentary finish of fruity/floral hop flavors.”

Sounds like it would fit into the IPL or Session IPA styles.

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The Firkin for December 2021

It is easy to proclaim at the end of each year that the last twelve months were a crazy rollercoaster. But I think we need to look at this in three year increments instead of one year.

2020 had a different trajectory than 2021 and 2022 will (hopefully) be the last part of the trilogy of the Covid years.

I said hopefully because it may look a little bleak at the moment with Omicron and the January surge that will follow the holiday. But breweries hung in there and new ones opened. Both may have been by a hair but it did.

I think that beer life will improve this year, maybe by June we won’t be looking over our shoulders. It may not be enough for some breweries but I think it might allow for some positive churn.

But whatever happens, it will be crazy.

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What Will the Hop of 2021 Be?

Old school beer fans can remember how Citra took over in IPA’s back in the day.  But, to me, there hasn’t been another hop with that meteoric of a rise and with staying power since.

This is not to say that the new varietals since are bad, they just haven’t stormed in like Citra.  Mosaic and Simcoe have their fans but also some detractors.  I happen to like Strata and it has gained a good amount of ground but others like Sabro and the newer Talus and Nectaron haven’t really popped yet.

Part of the problem, as we know from our supply chain issues this Christmas, is that this is all about supply and demand.  There has to be enough supply to create the IPA’s and pale ales by, at least, the trendy FOMO breweries but not too much that it becomes a commodity.  

But hops are not a quickly steered boat but more of a container ship so that means conditions have to be just right.  There has to be enough interest from brewers to push growers to plant and enough interest from beer lovers when those bines are mature.

Maybe what Stan Hieronymus calls the “new wave” of English hops like Jester and Harlequin will find that right window.

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The Firkin for November 2021

For this Firkin opinion piece, with the turkey merely a leftover memory and Christmas fast approaching, I want to get a little grumpy.

Just a little. Then I can get back to my cheerful but wary self. Here is a short list of beer items that I am NOT thankful for…

  • the lactose-isation of beer from pastry stouts to milkshake IPA’s
  • the slowed but still going IP theft labels
  • anyone not feeling welcome in a taproom
  • Whole Foods not being able to scan a single can, only 4-packs
  • lack of half pint pours in many places
  • the font size on labels growing ever smaller
  • idiots not wearing masks

That feels better. Now onto the final month 2021.